Trump Announces Higher Tariffs | News, Sports, Jobs

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the Economic Club of New York, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump suggested to business leaders Thursday that his plans to increase tariffs on foreign imports would address seemingly unrelated problems, such as the rising cost of child care in the U.S.

The Republican Party presidential candidate promised to lead what he called “national economic renaissance” by increasing tariffs, cutting regulations to increase energy production and drastically reducing government spending as well as corporate taxes for companies producing in the U.S.

During a speech before the Economic Club of New York, Trump was asked about his plans to lower child care costs to help more women enter the workforce.

“Childcare is childcare, it’s something you have to have in this country. You have to have it” he said. He then said that his plans to tax imports from foreign countries at a higher level “take care of yourself” such problems.

“We’re going to be taking in trillions of dollars, and while they say child care is expensive, it’s not very expensive, relatively speaking, compared to the amounts we’re going to be taking in.” he said.

Trump embraced the tariffs because he appeals to working-class voters who oppose free trade deals and the outsourcing of factories and jobs. But in his speech Thursday and in his economic plans as a whole, Trump made a broader — and to some, implausible — promise about the tariffs: that they could raise trillions of dollars to fund his agenda without passing those costs on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

His campaign is attacking Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ proposals to raise corporate tax rates, saying they would ultimately burden workers in the form of fewer jobs and lower incomes. But taxes on foreign imports would have a similar effect, with businesses and consumers having to pay the cost in the form of higher prices.

The United States imported $3.8 trillion last year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Trump has in the past talked about across-the-board tariffs of at least 10%, if not more, though he has not provided details on how those taxes would be implemented.

Kimberly Clausing, an economist at the University of California, Los Angeles, has repeatedly warned in economic analyses about the likely financial damage Trump’s tariffs would cause people, noting that Trump wants tariffs to pay for everything, even though they can’t.

“I believe Trump has already spent that revenue to pay for tax cuts (which he won’t do), or he could end the income tax (which he can’t do).” she wrote in an e-mail. “It is unclear where any revenue would come from to fund childcare.”

Trump asked to talk about child care

Child care is out of reach for many Americans and financially precarious for many daycare operators and their workers. Democrats in Congress have long said the child care industry is in crisis and requires a drastic increase in federal aid — and some Republicans have joined them. Trump has pointed to his tariff ideas as well as actions he has announced to reduce what he has described as “waste and fraud.”

“I would like to stay on childcare, but those numbers are small compared to the economic numbers I’m talking about, including growth, but growth that is also driven by the plan I just told you about.” he said.

Trump’s vice presidential nominee, J.D. Vance, was also asked earlier this week about proposals to lower child care costs, and he suggested making it easier for families to leave children at home in the care of grandparents or another relative.

“Make grandma or grandpa want to help a little more” he said. “If that happens, it will reduce the burden on all the resources we put into day care.”

Vance also suggested training more people to work in daycare centers and said some states are requiring what he called “a ridiculous certification that has nothing to do with childcare.”

Trump unveiled a series of economic proposals

In his speech, Trump said he would immediately issue “declaration of a state of emergency” to achieve a massive increase in the nation’s energy supply and eliminate 10 current regulations for every new one the government adopts. He said Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has agreed to head a commission to audit the federal government’s finances, which could save trillions of dollars.

“My plan will quickly beat inflation, quickly lower prices, and reignite explosive economic growth.” Trump claimed.

Trump has previously floated the idea of ​​lowering the corporate tax rate to 15%, but on Thursday he clarified that would apply only to companies that produce in the U.S. The corporate tax rate was 35% when he took office in 2017, and he later signed legislation lowering it.

Harris is calling for raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. Her policy proposals this week aim to promote more entrepreneurship, on the premise that making it easier to start new businesses will increase middle-class prosperity.

On Thursday, Trump criticized Harris’ proposals to ban price gouging and accused her of supporting Marxism and communism.

“She wants four more years to pursue a radical left agenda that poses a fundamental threat to the well-being of every American family and America itself.” he said.

He also promised to end what he called “Harris” “anti-energy crusade” promising that energy prices would be cut in half, although energy prices are often driven by international fluctuations. He said declaring a state of emergency would help speed approvals for new drilling, pipelines, refineries, power plants and reactors, where local opposition is typically fierce.

He also said he would ask Congress to pass legislation that would prohibit taxpayer dollars from being spent on people who entered the country illegally. Specifically, he said he would ban them from getting mortgages in California, referring to a law passed in that state last week. During his campaign, Trump was sharply critical of the economic impact of the influx of migrants who have entered the country in recent years and their burden on some government services.

Harris’ campaign released a memo accusing Trump of wanting to hurt the middle class, saying his ideas would increase the national debt and limit economic growth and job creation.

“I want our economy to serve billionaires and big corporations” the campaign said in a statement.

Their competing economic proposals are likely to be a focal point of the upcoming presidential debate on Tuesday. Harris arrived in downtown Pittsburgh on Thursday to spend the next few days preparing for the debate, deliberately choosing a key part of the battleground state of Pennsylvania to hone her ideas before they face off.

Trump plans to rely heavily on tariffs

In June, the right-wing Tax Foundation estimated that Trump’s proposed tariffs would cost $524 billion a year, shrinking the economy and costing the equivalent of 684,000 jobs. After Trump introduced tariffs of up to 20% in August, Harris’ campaign used analysis suggesting the amount would increase typical families’ spending by nearly $4,000 a year.

The money raised from tariffs would not be enough to cover the cost of various income tax cuts, including a plan to lower the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%. A Penn Wharton budget model estimated the cost of that at $5.8 trillion over 10 years.

Economists have warned about Trump’s plans to impose tariffs that he says will bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. Some say such import taxes could worsen inflation, even as he promises to cut costs. Inflation peaked in 2022 at 9.1% but has fallen to 2.9% since last month.

“Some might call it economic nationalism. I call it common sense. I call it America First” he said on Thursday.

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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Boak reported from Pittsburgh. Associated Press journalists Moriah Balingit and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report.

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